Jews secure? I think not | Opinion

By Caren Besner

Nov 16, 2018 | 2:40 PM

Caren Besner. (Caren Besner/Courtesy)

Rabbi Bruce Warshal’s recent article “Don’t Believe the ADL; We are secure in America,” starts off with misinformation.

I’ve attended Hadassah, JCC, and college presentations where the ADL pushes “The Alt-Right and White Supremacy in America Today” agenda and I wish both the rabbi and ADL would give equal time to the Students for Justice in Palestine: 200 chapters and Muslim Students Association: 600 chapters on college campuses throughout our nation who shout down and silence Jewish students who dare to support Israel.

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If one were to listen to ADL’s lectures, they would walk out the door with no idea that there were 34,075 Islamic terrorist attacks since Sept 11, 2001, and that the Palestinians burned to a crisp more than seven acres of Israeli land, and fired 480 rockets into Israel that landed on or near Sderot in one day in November. To date, not a week goes by that Islamic fundamentalists do not attempt to kill Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., in the name of Allah with none of the other religions at war with each other. Islamic terrorists murder more people everyday than the KKK has in the past 70 years (approximately 30 since 1945). Islamic terrorists killed more Americans on American soil than did combined militaries of Japan and Nazi Germany in World War II, yet not a sentence from Warshal, except to criticize ADL for focusing on college campuses, which disappointingly, they do not.

Neither does Warshal or ADL bring up the recent Chasidic man in Brooklyn who was assaulted while walking to shul by a Muslim taxi driver who exited his car and raced over to him screaming, “Allah, Allah,” “I hate Jews,” “I hate Israel,” and shockingly, this incident was categorized as “road rage”; NOT a hate crime? I do agree with Warshal when he states the statistics are wrong, but I wonder, when Jews are harassed, assaulted, and murdered by Muslims, if it is possible to put political correctness (censorship) aside, that we start categorizing crimes that are Islamic-based as hate crimes against Jews and not just focus on Islamophobia. I couldn’t disagree more when Warshal declares to “... be better Jews, we should work on eradicating hatred toward other minorities, and worry less about ourselves.” Who else will worry about Jews if Jews don’t?

The rabbi needs to realize contemporary anti-Semitism is being fueled by liberals like himself who put tikkun olam ahead of their own survival, who embolden liberal, Islamist, and KKK Jew-haters who will not put their rocks, stones, knives, swords, guns, vans, or hate-filled threats away until Jews unite, like blacks and Muslims do. Look towards France and Britain, if you want to predict how Warshal’s passivity will end up.

Israel Hayom reports a poll “ ... by Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism NGO, an incredible 90 percent of British Jews believe that the Labour Party is anti-Semitic, and 40 percent are considering leaving the United Kingdom because of the spike in Anti-Semitism.” Warshal is not a good forecaster, but maybe his ideology gets in the way. Years ago, the rabbi stated in an article printed in the Jewish Journal that given a choice between his liberal convictions and the Jewish state, he would choose the former. Why should Jews have to choose? Look what happened to Jews in Nazi Germany who said they were Germans first. Do we make other groups choose? Jews will always protect other groups but when it comes to themselves, they legitimize Jew-haters because they do not defend themselves. When Warshal states, “We [Jews] are secure,” this is a clarion cry to anti-Semites that they have the “opportunity” to continue their hatred unabated. It also gives our people a false impression that we are safe.

Vladimir Jabotinsky said, “The Jew learns not by way of reason but from catastrophes. He won’t buy an umbrella merely because he sees clouds in the sky. He waits until he is drenched and catches pneumonia.”

I only wish Warshal cared so much about his brethren, when he “manipulates” readers to think that there is hatred “especially against Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, and immigrants,” but when it comes to Jews – we’re OK! We are not OK and must become our own advocates. Jews don’t like to do that; they like to support others, but unless they advocate for themselves and cry out against ALL sides coming at them, we are once again going to have another Holocaust.